Getting Oriented

The magnificent series of gorges known collectively as las Barrancas del Cobre, or the Copper Canyon, is the real treasure of the Sierra Madre. (The name refers to the tarnished-copper color of the lichen on the canyon walls.) Inaccessible to the casual visitor until the early 1960s and still largely uncharted, the canyons are most frequently visited via one of the most breathtaking train rides in North America.